History of Nursing

First vaccination (small pox)

1796

small pox vaccination small pox vaccination

First surgical procedure using anesthesia

1846

Semmelweis proposed handwashing before caring for women in labor and after birth

1847

Nightingale Nurse Training

1850

Nightingale completed nursing training at Kaiserswerth

Nightingale in Turkey

1854

Nightingale arrived in Turkey with 38 nurses to care for soldiers wounded in the Crimean war.

First English Training School for Nurses

1860

Nightingale started the first English nurse training school at St. Thomas' Hospital in London.

Application of germ theory to surgery

1861

First practical thermometer

1867

First sphygmomanometer for practice clinical use

1881

Columbia University

1892

Columbia University School of Nursing established.

Henry Street Settlement

1893

Lillian Wald established the Henry Street Settlement in New York, first formal public health nursing practice.

First Use of X-rays in Battlefield Medicine

1896

American Journal of Nursing

1900

American Journal of Nursing first issue published.

First school nurse in the US

1902

Lina Rogers becomes the first school nurse in the US.

US Army School of Nursing

1918

US Army School of Nursing started

First Use of insulin to treat diabetes

Jan 11, 1922

Leonard Thompson

Goldmark Report

1923

Goldmark report recommends schools of nursing be associated with colleges and universities.

Frontier Nursing Service

1925

Frontier Nursing Service formed to provide rural nursing and maternity care.

Pap smear available for screening

1928

First used in 1928, efficacy proven in 1941

First time the iron long was used to save life of a child with polio

1928

First Doctoral Degree in Nursing

1932

Teachers College, Columbia University and New York University offer the Doctor of Education Degree (EdD) for nurses.

Human blood storage

1935

first time that human blood was stored

Rh disease identified

1940

Rh factor discovered in blood

African American Nurses Join Army Nurse Corps

1941

African American nurses allowed to join Army Nurse Corps and care for German prisoners of war and soldiers in foreign countries.

Cadet Nursing Corps Established

1943

Cadet Nursing Corps established, nursing school tuition and educational costs paid in exchange for commitment to serve during all of World War II.

First year penicillin was widely available to treat humans

1945

Was discovered in 1928 and as widely available in mid to late 1940s.

Philip Levine given award for identifying Rh disease and cause in newborns

1946

Dr. Landsteiner as well as John Mahoney of the United States Marine Hospital and Alexander Wiener of the New York Medical Examiner’s Officer

Army & Navy Nurse Corps Officers

1947

Nurses given the status of full commissioned officers in the Army and Navy Nurse Corps.

Segregation of Military Nurses Ends

1947

Segregation of African American nurses in the Army and Navy Nursing Corps ends.

Oral contraceptives

1950

created by planned parenthood federation of America

ADN Degree

1952

ADN nursing degree programs started.

Journal of Nursing Research

1952

Journal of Nursing Research first published.

Kidney Transplant

1954

First successful transplant

Men in the Nursing Corps

1954

Men allowed to enter military nursing corps

First Doctor of Nursing Science Graduates

1963

Boston University designed the first program
to deal with the clinical practice of nursing and created the doctor of nursing science degree, with the first graduate in 1963.

Non-invasive fetal heart monitor

1966

First Nurse Practitioner

1971

First legally recognized nurse practitioner license in Idaho.

First human born by in vitro fertilization

1978

First gene therapy clinical trial

1990

First use of a vaccine against COVID-19

2020